brazil pineapple

Comment: The world’s inefficient food web

The world’s affluent must start eating local food to tackle the climate crisis, new research shows

The desire by people in richer countries for a diverse range of out-of-season produce imported from overseas is driving up global greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found. It reveals how transporting food across and between countries generates almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector – and affluent countries make a disproportionately

hydroponic lettuce

OCN’s Smart Farm is a source of physical and mental health

A computer-controlled farm, on-site research and fresh produce are providing ways to combat diabetes in this northern community

It sits behind the wall that holds the community centre’s bingo board — and its name is Bertha. This ‘Smart Farm’ is Stephanie Cook’s domain on Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), more than 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. After more than six years of farming, Cook can walk into the room and smell if something is


As Peak of the Market reinvents itself as a private company, the Co-operator takes a look at the colourful history of the sector.

From Peak to obsolete

Peak of the Market’s monopoly began with protests, newspaper wars and threats of violence. It ended with near silence

In the embryonic days of Peak of the Market, Wally Kroeker recalls a farmer threatening to thrash his dad. His father, Walter, was a staunch proponent of orderly marketing for his potatoes and vegetables. The other farmer was not. “My dad was a pretty conservative guy,” Kroeker said. “Some people could never understand why a

An original proposal by Health Canada to label ground beef as high in saturated fat has been shelved.  Photo: Jeff Haynes/Reuters

Health Canada to slap warning labels on sugary, salty and fatty foods

Ottawa | Reuters – Foods high in sugars, sodium and saturated fat will come with clear warning labels in Canada starting in 2026, the federal government said on Thursday, in an effort to promote healthier eating choices and reduce chronic health risks. “We know that it’s not always easy to make healthy choices,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told


WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is congratulated by India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal after the June 17, 2022 closing session of a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime

Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus

Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than

Biden administration putting up US$2.1 billion to strengthen food system

Reuters – The Biden administration plans to spend more than US$2.1 billion in funding to shore up weaknesses in the country’s food supply system exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will unveil the new funding, designed to enhance competition in food processing


File photo of raw and cooked ground beef. (Lime and Lemon Media photo via Canada Beef Inc.)

Beef sector calls for Health Canada label exception

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association wants ground beef exempted from proposed rules

The cattle sector is less than pleased by a Health Canada proposal that would put a ‘high saturated fat’ label on retail ground beef. The proposal is part of a suite of changes proposed for Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations. As well as adding a front-of-packaging (FOP) label requirement for foods deemed by Health Canada

red wine

Comment: Why you shouldn’t trust research pulling for a single ‘superfood’

Good nutrition is complicated, and a few ‘superfoods’ aren’t going to get you there

You’ve probably read the stories proclaiming that eating blueberries reduces your risk of dementia, or red wine is good for your heart or coffee protects against Type 2 diabetes — or, indeed, many of the other big health claims for a particular “superfood.” But what is the truth in these statements? While we — a


Comment: Food for non-food purposes

Comment: Food for non-food purposes

FOOD SECURITY A shrinking fraction of the world’s major crops goes to feed the hungry

Competition for the world’s important crops — like biofuels, processing ingredients, livestock, meal hydrogenated oils and starches — is sending more of them toward uses other than directly feeding people. A recently published study, of which I was a co-author, found that in 2030, only 29 per cent of the global harvests of 10 major

Yara’s fertilizer terminal at Stockton, California. (Sebastian Braum photo, Yara.com)

Fertilizer maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock

Sanctions cut global fertilizer supply 15 per cent, company says

Davos, Switzerland | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara says donors urgently need to close the U.N.’s $10 billion food programme funding gap to avoid a catastrophe as sanctions on Russian fertilizers and Ukraine’s grain export problems have created an extreme global shock. “The world has realized that food can be a weapon and it